January 5th is known as National Bird Day. The purpose of this holiday is to bring attention to the plight of our feathered friends. Established in 1979 by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, up to half a million bird lovers annually spend their day counting all the species of birds they see. To celebrate this day, we have put together some tips on bird watching with children and how to get started.

Birdwatching is a brilliant learning activity and can help encourage your children to take a further interest into the outdoors and nature. Firstly, it is a good idea for parents to have a rough idea of things you might likely see in a garden or on a local walk, just so you can help create excitement about finding them in a guidebook or similar. This can be done by accessing free information online.

The best place to participate in birdwatching is your own back garden. Sit yourselves down by the window and see what comes birds come to visit. Tt is a good idea to set an amount of time dependent upon the attention span of your children. Ensure you write down all of the ones that you find and if you are unsure what they are, write down a description – the best things to look at are the beak shape, body shape, what colours appear on the bird and what size is it. This means you can search later on in either a book or online.

If you enjoy watching them, the next step is to bring more birds into your garden. The best way to do this is by placing various types of bird feeders with different food around the garden. Make sure your feeding stations can be seen from your viewing window. Consider attaching stickers to the outside of your windows to help reduce the chance of birds flying into them.

Some of the birds you might spot in your garden include:

· Blackbirds

· Blue tits

· Chaffinches

· Collared doves

· Dunnocks

· Greenfinches

· House sparrows

· Robins

· Song thrushes

· Starlings

You can also venture out on a trip to a wildlife reserve. This helps to encourage any children who show an interest in birds. Depending on where you go you might find a whole heap of different kinds of birds, such as ducks, geese and other water birds.

Getting a good bird watching book for kids is essential. Ensure that you get one that is age appropriate for you kids. You will also need you have a notepad and pencil close by so you can make notes about everything you find! You may also find that you need a pair of binoculars to help see the birds up-close. Mostly though, you need a sense of adventure and curiosity to get out and find them!